Manufacturing method of a diamond-mesh polyethylene netting sponge

ABSTRACT

A diamond-mesh polyethylene sponge is obtained from a number of netting tubes stretched over supports, joined and bound together at the center and then released from the supports.

This application is a division, of application Ser. No. 413,277, filedSep. 27, 1989, now abandoned.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a polyethylene netting sponge. In particular,the sponge is made of diamond-mesh extruded polyethylene netting of thesort used to make fruit and vegetable bags.

The invention also relates to the method of manufacturing the saidsponge.

Synthetic sponges are known which are made from a variety of materials,but all with semi-open cells, ie. sponges whose cells present acontinuous wall.

These known sponges, whose absorption power depends on the cell size,present a number of drawbacks because, due to the cell structure theyare difficult to clean thoroughly.

They need to be rinsed many times, and traces of deposits still remainon the cell walls. Known sponges are therefore difficult to dry and areunhygienic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention proposes a sponge, specifically a bath sponge, whicheliminates these drawbacks.

The sponge is made of diamond-mesh polyethylene netting; due to thecharacteristics of the material from which it is made it remainsperfectly elastic, is very easy to clean and dries rapidly.

This netting is already known, but is used in other fields for totallydifferent purposes from that covered by this invention. The sponge inaccordance with the invention is made from netting tubes which arestretched over supports and bound together at the center.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This invention will be described in detail, by way of example but not oflimitation, by reference to the annexed figures in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a sponge in accordance with the invention

FIG. 2 to 4 illustrates the various stages of manufacture of the sponge.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The sponge in accordance with the invention is made from a number ofdiamond-mesh polyethylene netting tubes which are stretched over a pairof supports designed to keep them taut.

FIG. 2 shows these supports 1 secured to a pair of bases 2. The supportscurve inwards at the top so that they come close together and the tubescan be stretched over them more easily.

FIG. 2 shows a netting tube 4 totally stretched over the supports Two ormore tubes are stretched over the supports, then bound together at thecenter with a plastic strip or other known system.

This stage is shown in FIG. 3.

When the tubes have been tied together, the ends are removed fromsupports 1 (FIG. 4) to obtain the sponge as shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the tubes of polyethylene netting arepre-stretched in a direction which is transverse to the axis of thetubes (the axis of the tubes would be vertical in FIGS. 2 and 3) untilthey are in the condition of FIG. 3 and thereafter all of the tubes areconnected to each other by a plastic strip which is wrapped around allof the tubes near the axis of the tubes.

The elasticity of polyethylene means that the sponge always maintainsits original volume.

Due to the characteristics of the netting from which the sponge is made,it is very easy to clean. Short rinsing is sufficient to eliminate alltrace of dirt, and the sponge then dries rapidly.

An expert in the field could devise numerous modifications andvariations, all of which should be deemed to fall within the ambit ofthis invention.

I claim:
 1. A method of manufacturing a bath sponge,comprising:stretching a plurality of tubes made of diamond-meshresilient synthetic netting, in a direction transverse to a longitudinalaxis of the tubes; binding all of the stretched tubes together near acommon center of all of the stretched tubes; and releasing all of thetubes from their stretched condition, whereby the tubes through theirresiliency rebound into a rounded sponge shape around the binding of thetubes.
 2. A method according to claim 1 including stretching each tubebetween a pair of supports, each tube being gathered on its respectivepair of supports before all of the tubes are bound to each other.
 3. Amethod according to claim 2 including binding all of the tubes to eachother using a plastic strip.
 4. A method according to claim 3 whereineach tube of netting is made of diamond-mesh polyethylene.
 5. A methodaccording to claim 4 wherein each pair of supports comprises a pair ofelongated supports each having one end connected at a fixed location andan opposite free end, whereby the opposite free ends of each pair ofsupports can be bent toward each other for receiving a tube of netting,the tube of netting being gathered toward the fixed ends of each supportpair, for stretching each tube of netting between each pair of supports.6. A method according to claim 1 wherein each pair of supports comprisesa pair of elongated pole supports each having one end connected at afixed location and an opposite free end, whereby the opposite free endsof each pair of supports can be bent toward each other for receiving atube of netting, the tube of netting being gathered toward the fixedends of each support pair, for stretching each tube of netting betweeneach pair of supports.